Shorten may intervene in teachers pay dispute

The Federal Government has not ruled out intervening in the Victorian teachers pay dispute if the stand-off continues.

About 150 public schools were closed as more than 10,000 striking teachers marched to Parliament House to demand a better pay deal.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten says if the dispute cannot be resolved by the State Government, he might step in.

"I may at some point have to become involved with the Baillieu Government and the teachers if the teachers are unable to resolve their differences, and I hope they can," he said.

"I don't particularly want to take sides because I may have to get involved and fix it if the Baillieu Government can't."

The teachers' union has rejected the Government's 2.5 pay increase and is calling on Premier Ted Baillieu to honour his pre-election promise to make Victorian teachers the best paid in the nation.

The union's Mary Bluett says her members have vowed to continue work bans and strike action if there is no progress in negotiations by the start of term three.

"Unless Ted Baillieu listens to what people have had to say, see the strength and determination of the people who have stopped work today and return to the negotiating table and negotiate seriously on salaries, on contract teaching and on teacher workload," she said.

The State Government is urging the union to accept its offer, which would give a bigger pay rise to some teachers, based on performance.

Mr Baillieu says there is a fair deal on the table already and the union has walked away from the negotiations.

"The Government has an offer on the table for teachers which would see 70 per cent of teachers in Victoria receive bonuses of up to 10 per cent ... on top of the 2.5 per cent," he said.

David Adamson is the principal of Essendon Keilor College in Melbourne's north-west.

He says the Government's offer of a 2.5 per cent pay increase is inadequate and rejects the argument that performance-based pay will improve teaching standards and lead to higher salaries.

"Teaching is a collaborative profession, people work together in teams and to single out some people as being eligible for performance pay and not others I think is going to be divisive for teachers," he said.

"I think it would be much better to pay people a decent salary and provide them with the support they need to improve their performance."